Customer Reviews

Modern Masters, Vol. 6: Arthur Adams

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Like most comic fans, the first time I saw Art Adams' work was on the quirky mini-series Longshot. Adams is a bit of a rare breed. Unlike a lot of artists, Art did not struggle for years to get his break, rather he was in the right place at the right time which brought him the Longshot series when he was just 19 years old. He had sent samples of his work to all the Marvel editors and it was Carl Potts who first contacted Art and got him hooked up with writer Ann Nocenti to work on Longshot. Adams' detailed and unique style quickly made him a fan favorite and Adams soon found himself working on some of Marvel's top-selling books including The X-Men and New Mutants.

Adams is the latest subject of the Modern Masters series from TwoMorrows publishing and he's certainly deserving of the honor. In this book-length interview which features hundreds of samples of his art, Adams talks about his twenty plus year career in comics. Among his influences were Frank Frazetta, Michael Golden, Walt Simonson, and Barry Smith...the latter two are certainly the most evident in his work. Art discussed the creation and look of Longshot which was Nocenti's creation but with a look designed by Art. The mullet was based on the lead singer of 80's one-hit wonder band Kajagoogoo. Besides his projects for Marvel, the interview covers his work for now-defunct Comico including Gumby, Monkey Man and O'Brien for Dark Horse and Tom Strong for DC's America's Best Comics imprint. Art humorously discusses how his legendary Wolverine poster has brought him tremendous royalties, even so many years later.

Adams was certainly ahead of his time by at least a half-decade, putting out eye-popping artwork long before Todd McFarlane, Jim Lee, and the rest of the Image ilk would revolutionize the way fans looked at comic book art with their bold, in your face, splash page-happy styles. Adams was Image before it ever existed. Yet what really comes through in the interview is the humbleness and lack of ego that he has. He is fairly reserved and often even self-deprecating about his work. You can see how much of a regular guy he is as he takes readers through an average work day, admittedly often distracted by television. Art comes across as very engaging and somewhat surprised by his own success. It clearly has not gone to his head.

The interview covers the first 88 pages of the book while the last 36 pages are dedicated to displaying his fantastic art work. This gallery contains some of his famous covers, design sketches and portfolio illustrations including some simply dazzling, full-page Moneky Man and O'Brien pieces. But the most intriguing are Art's re-imagining of some old, classic Marvel & DC covers. These include his versions of The Hulk #181 as Wolverine battles the Hulk, Marvel Feature #11 with another of those classic Thing Vs. Hulk covers, and Fantasic Four #82 which is a redo of a great Jack Kirby cover.

Art Adams is a welcome edition to the Modern Masters series!

Reviewed by Tim Janson

I'm not a great fan of this series of books in general. I've found some of the earlier volumes to dwell over-much on the interview aspects without giving you anything really interesting by way of art. Thankfully, I have no real complaints with this volume devoted to Arthur Adams.

Like the rest of the series, it is interview-oriented. And let's face it; not everybody is a great interview subject. I've read a number of interviews with Mr. Adams, however, and found him consistently engaging. The text of this book is no different.

Best of all, there's a good selection of artwork here, including everything from thumbnail sketches to pencil drawings to fully-finished art. Everything is in black and white and/or halftone reproduction, but overall the production values are decent and everything is very legible.

If you're a fan of Mr. Adams' art, I'd say you are in for a treat with this book. And if you consider that the average cover price for a single comic book is $2.99 these days, for the price this volume can't be beat.

The book was intended as a present for a close friend and arrived in perfect condition and on time. I have no issues or complaints with the service or the product. Thanks!

As an artist myself I was expecting this book to feature alot more art then was delivered. If you want to read such exiting interview question such as 'What is your favourite food"? Then this book will knock your socks off. For anyone else with a pulse, the interviews will get boring and tedious quite quickly.

I've loved Art Adams' work for a while, and when I discovered that someone had put together an interview with him discussing his career and displaying his work over the years, I had to pick it up. Modern Masters: Arthur Adams is a good buy, and well worth it for comics fans, both for its content and for the artwork contained within. You'll find some great insights into Adam's career and creativity form his own mouth, as well as a nice selection of black and white finished art, sketches, conceptual work, etc. interspersed throughout the book itself and in a special gallery section at the end.

The only drawback to this book, and the reason that it doesn't get my full 5 stars, is the quality of the printing. This book doesn't have the best printing quality in terms of the ink/paper that is used - in some of the darker spots (espeically the places where there are great big blocks of black on a page) it's starting to rub off onto the facing page. However, if you treat it carefully, this probably won't be too much of an issue (I hope). All in all, a good buy - check it out.